-The Indian Express Proposing a complete overhaul of the existing environmental governance framework, a government-appointed expert committee has recommended measures that would make it easier to set up industrial or infrastructure projects, but would also ensure that those who flout pollution norms or violate green laws are penalised heavily. Among the measures suggested by the four-member committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian are: creation of new institutions...

-The Hindustan Times The government is gearing up for its next big mission, a Rs. 113,000-crore plan that aims to usher in a digital revolution by moving everything online, from education to public services to bureaucracy. Aptly called ‘e-kranti', it comes under the Narendra Modi government's ‘Digital India' initiative and is quite simply the world's most ambitious broadband project - but one that will have to overcome countless hurdles, big and small....

-The Hindu Business Line Now that the gains from the first round have petered out, we need to embrace biotech to boost farm productivity As India seeks to ignite the next agrarian revolution, it must try and absorb some of the lessons of the Green Revolution. Currently, agricultural productivity and growth vary from State to State, resulting in regional disparities. Through targeted policymaking, investment in rural infrastructure and research, and ongoing support...

-The Hindu The imperatives of governance have a tendency to make political parties think differently once they are in power and revisit earlier misgivings. Nothing illustrates this better than the Narendra Modi government's decision to go ahead with the ‘Aadhaar' scheme aimed at giving unique identification numbers to residents. The Bharatiya Janata Party had on some occasions in the past voiced its reservations about the viability and desirability of the...

-BBC Most parents would love to get their teenagers away from computers. But not in one poor suburb on the outskirts of Delhi, where youngsters are sent to learn. Sharing a few laptops between them, they're being taught some basic online skills - how to search for information, how to send money to their families in the villages and how to book train tickets. None of the children have access to computers in school....